Hello America,
My name is Tony Whitcomb and I am the Founder and CEO of Expotera.
I have created Expotera, as well as this Blog, to let the good, honest and hardworking Citizens of this Country know that the Revolution has now begun.
Power To The People!!

Sunday, November 30, 2014

In the Vietnam War protest song “Five to One,” Jim Morrison
of The Doors sings:

The old get old/And the young get stronger
May take a week/And it may take longer
They got the guns/But we got the numbers
Gonna win, yeah/We’re takin’ over

In my youth, I took solace in the whole “we got the numbers” thing
but it eventually became crystal clear that the ones with the guns
have had it all figured out for a very, very long time.

Philosopher David Hume, in 1758, explained it this way:

“As force is always on side of the governed, the governors have
nothing to support them but opinion. It is, therefore, on opinion
only that government is founded and this maxim extends to the
most despotic and most military governments as well as to the
most free and most popular.”

“The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the
wonders of the Western world,” added Gore Vidal.

“No First World country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely
from its media all objectivity, much less dissent.”

This potent combination of muscle and misinformation manifested
itself in the events leading up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

On Feb. 15 of that year, tens of millions of earthlings marched and
carried signs to declare their unambiguous disapproval of America’s
plan to drastically ratchet up what had essentially been a 12-plus
year war against the people of Iraq.

But…

* The massive global protests were ignored by the elites.

* The shock-and-awe invasion went on as planned.

* The occupation, violence, and despair continue to this day.

Doesn’t say a whole lot for “having the numbers,” huh?

“We” have had the numbers time and time again since then.

Even at the overhyped climate parade in September 2014,
roughly 125,000 humans marched in NYC.

But, as long as America’s ruling elite has no intention of changing
the dominant paradigm, we remain on a runaway train to ecocide
— no matter how many of us show up.

In these and countless other cases, “we” have had the numbers.

“We” still have the numbers.

Morrison’s “they,” however, give no indication they’ll be
surrendering their guns any time soon.

As a result, dissent in America is pretty much limited to permitted
marches, protests, boycotts, petitions, candlelight vigils,
documentaries, free speech zones, the occasional vote for a third
party candidate, and articles like this one.

All of these methods (at least in their safe-for-mass-consumption
versions) are deemed “legal” by those with the guns and, in their
own way, legitimize the power held by those with the guns.

Thus, all such tactics are ultimately futile in terms of provoking
systemic, long term change.

I stopped caring today because a once noble profession has
become despised, hated, distrusted, and mostly unwanted.

I stopped caring today because parents refuse to teach their kids
right from wrong and blame us when they are caught breaking the
law.

I stopped caring today because parents tell their little kids to
be good or “the police will take you away” embedding a fear
from year one.

Moms hate us in their schools because we frighten them
and remind them of the evil that lurks in the world.

They would rather we stay unseen, but close by if needed,
but readily available to “fix their kid.”

I stopped caring today because we work to keep our streets safe
from mayhem in the form of reckless, drunk, high, or speeding
drivers, only to be hated for it, yet hated even more because we
didn’t catch the drunk before he killed someone they may know.

Nevertheless, we are just another tool used by government
to generate “revenue.”

I stopped caring today because Liberals hate the police
as we carry guns, scare kids, and take away their drugs.

We always kill innocent people with unjust violence.

We are called bullies for using a Taser during a fight, but are
condemned further for not first tasing the guy who pulls a gun
on us.

And if we do have to shoot, we are asked “why didn’t you just
shoot the gun out of their hand?”

And when one of us is killed by the countless attacks that do
happen (but are rarely reported in the mainstream media) the
haters say, “Its just part of the job.”

I stopped caring today because Conservatives hate us as we are
“the Government.”

We try to take away their guns, freedoms, and liberty at every
turn.

We represent a “Police State” where “jackbooted badge-wearing
thugs” randomly attack innocent people without cause or concern
for constitutional rights.

We are Waco, Ruby Ridge, and Rodney King all rolled into one
lone police officer stopping to help change an old lady’s tire.

I stopped caring today as no one wants us around, but instantly
demands answers, results, arrests, when a crime takes place.

If a crime isn’t solved within the allocated 60 minutes it takes CSI
on television, we are inept, incompetent, or covering something
up.

If we do get “lucky” it was just that and everyone with a Facebook
account can post wonderful comments of how “they” would solve
the case and how “we” are not nearly as clever.

I stopped caring today because a video of a cop six states away,
from a department that you never heard of, screws up and forgets
his oath of honor, thus firing up an internet lynch-mob of cop haters
even though 99% of us work twice as hard not to end up in the news
and to still be “the good guys.”

We are “militarized” because we wear body armor and kevlar
helmets when shots are fired or rocks thrown at us and carry
scary looking rifles even though everyone knows that they
are easier to shoot and are more accurate than a handgun or
a shotgun.

I stopped caring today because the culture of today’s instantly
connected youth is only there to take and never give back.

To never accept responsibility for ones actions, but to blame
everyone else instead of themselves.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

At some point while I was playing or preparing to play Monday
Night Football, the news broke about the Ferguson Decision.

After trying to figure out how I felt, I decided to write it down.

Here are my thoughts:

I'M ANGRY because the stories of injustice that have been passed
down for generations seem to be continuing before our very eyes.

I'M FRUSTRATED, because pop culture, music and movies glorify
these types of police citizen altercations and promote an invincible
attitude that continues to get young men killed in real life, away
from safety movie sets and music studios.

I'M FEARFUL because in the back of my mind I know that although
I'm a law abiding citizen I could still be looked upon as a "threat"
to those who don't know me.

So I will continue to have to go the extra mile to earn
the benefit of the doubt.

I'M EMBARRASSED because the looting, violent protests, and law
breaking only confirm, and in the minds of many, validate, the
stereotypes and thus the inferior treatment.

I'M SAD, because another young life was lost from his family, the
racial divide has widened, a community is in shambles, accusations,
insensitivity hurt and hatred are boiling over, and we may never
know the truth about what happened that day.

I'M SYMPATHETIC, because I wasn't there so I don't know exactly
what happened.

Maybe Darren Wilson acted within his rights and duty as an officer
of the law and killed Michael Brown in self defense like any of us
would in the circumstance.

Now he has to fear the backlash against himself and his loved
ones when he was only doing his job. What a horrible thing to
endure.

OR maybe he provoked Michael and ignited the series of events
that led to him eventually murdering the young man to prove a
point.

I'M OFFENDED, because of the insulting comments I've seen that
are not only insensitive but dismissive to the painful experiences
of others.

I'M CONFUSED, because I don't know why it's so hard to obey
a policeman.

You will not win!!!

And I don't know why some policeman abuse their power.

Power is a responsibility, not a weapon to brandish and lord over
the populace.

I'M INTROSPECTIVE, because sometimes I want to take "our" side
without looking at the facts in situations like these.

Sometimes I feel like it's us against them.

Sometimes I'm just as prejudiced as people I point fingers at.

And that's not right.

How can I look at white skin and make assumptions but
not want assumptions made about me?

That's not right.

I'M HOPELESS, because I've lived long enough to expect
things like this to continue to happen.

I'm not surprised and at some point my little children are going
to inherit the weight of being a minority and all that it entails.

I'M HOPEFUL, because I know that while we still have race issues
in America, we enjoy a much different normal than those of our
parents and grandparents.

I see it in my personal relationships with teammates,
friends and mentors.

And it's a beautiful thing.

I'M ENCOURAGED, because ultimately the problem is not
a SKIN problem, it is a SIN problem.

SIN is the reason we rebel against authority.

SIN is the reason we abuse our authority.

SIN is the reason we are racist, prejudiced and lie to cover
for our own.

SIN is the reason we riot, loot and burn.

BUT I'M ENCOURAGED because God has provided a solution for
sin through the his son Jesus and with it, a transformed heart
and mind.

One that's capable of looking past the outward and seeing what's
truly important in every human being.

The cure for the Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and
Eric Garner tragedies is not education or exposure.

It's the Gospel.

So, finally, I'M ENCOURAGED because the Gospel gives mankind
hope.

Benjamin Watson is an American Professional Football Player for the New Orleans Saints.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

For the many thousands of tourists who fly into Israel/Palestine
every year, landing in the modern Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv
marks the beginning of a great adventure in the “holy land.”

But for members of the “African Heritage” delegation, flying into
Ben-Gurion was fraught with tension and foreboding.

Before departing the U.S. on October 27, our delegation rehearsed
how we would move and act, role-playing what to say and what to
avoid when we would face Israel’s first line of defense – its custom
officials at the airport.

The normally simple act of landing, showing that prized blue book
that is the U.S. passport and passing effortlessly through customs
and into the country, was something that we understood might not
be automatic for us.

And indeed it wasn’t – within an hour of our landing our
delegation’s co-leader, a young Palestinian woman, was
detained.

We later found out that she was interrogated, held overnight,
and deported the next day.

As our delegation slowly made its way through Israel’s entry process
those first couple of hours at the airport, we did not quite grasped
that our experience at the airport would not be the first of the
strange dualities that we would experience and witness of life in
Israel/Palestine.

The gaggle of wide-eyed excited tourists that were happy to be in
the country greatly contrasted with our already lived experience of
Israel as a police state on guard against all threats, real and
imagined.

The Delegation and Program:

The African Heritage delegation was made up of activists,
educators, journalists, clergy, students and folks representing
the full spectrum of African American life in all of its diversity.

Sponsored by the Interfaith Peace Builders, an organization of
dedicated young activists experienced in organizing delegations
to Israel/Palestine, the individual members of our delegation had
various positions and motivations for being a part of the delegation.

But a genuine feeling of solidarity with the plight of the Palestinian people and a desire to better understand the situation in order to
share what we observed with our constituencies where we lived and
worked emerged as the common denominator that united most of
us.

Our ambitious agenda included meetings and visits that
took us across the country.

From East Jerusalem to “Israel proper” through to the West Bank and down to the Negev desert, we met with peace activists, political activists, clergy, the settler community of Hebron, Palestinian-Arab Bedouin women, and lived with Palestinian families in Bil’in and the Deheisheh refugee camp.

It was an exhilarating and emotionally exhausting experience that touched us all in very personal ways.

The never ending conflict?

The deeply troubling impression that I came away with was that a negotiated, relatively “peaceful” resolution of the conflict is impossible and that those individuals who believe that the Israeli state would grant sovereignty and respect the human rights of Palestinians within the context of either a one or two state solution are either naive regarding the nature of Israel’s settler project or fundamentally dishonest.

The obscene level of investment in the infrastructure of repression in the occupied territories along with the most aggressive settlement policies since the 67 war clearly demonstrates that the Israeli state has no interest in a negotiated settlement with Palestinians.

Indeed the “facts on the ground” all point toward policies of permanent control of Palestinian life and land.

Those facts include the over six hundred thousand Israeli settlers in the West Bank and settlement expansion into Palestinian East Jerusalem, the so-called security wall that is more an enclosure wall to expropriate Palestinian land, and the emergence over the last 15 years of a right-wing, militarized Israeli civil society symbolized by the popular support given to the governing coalition anchored by the right-wing Lukid party.

These facts coupled with the complete collapse of what is referred to as liberalism within Israel, suggest that the current political alignments and power relations shatter any illusions that a domestic constituency strong enough to counter the hegemony of the Zionist positions exist anywhere in Israel.

On the Palestinian side, there are deep divisions among the leadership of Hamas and Fatah, the two main Palestinian organizations, despite the so-called unity government that was established in June of this year.

I was struck by the number of people who have lost all faith in the Palestinian authority created out of the Oslo process. Yet at the level of the “people,” Palestinians living in the occupied territories are still united in their steadfast commitment to resist the occupation.

Unity on the issue of Palestinian resistance stems primarily from the daily indignities of life under military occupation and the repressive brutality that is a permanent feature of Palestinian life.

Our delegation observed and experienced, if only briefly, life under military occupation as we moved through military checkpoints throughout the country but especially in the West Bank.

In the village of Bil’in, a community in resistance that was documented in the Academy Award nominated film Five Broken Cameras, our delegation was hosted by the village’s popular resistance committee.

As part of our visit we were taken down to the separation wall or what many of us call the apartheid wall.

Without provocation or warnings of any kind, the delegation suddenly found itself on the receiving end of a barrage of Israeli gas grenades.

After having to run back to our cars through gas, we were informed by our hosts that since the authorities were aware that internationals were in the town for the night we should be aware that there was a possibility that soldiers might raid houses that night to arrest us, something that has happened before.

Two days later, we once again experienced the duality of experiences reflected in the lives and positions of Palestinians.

In the morning we met with the Holy Land Trust, an organization that is committed to developing what it calls a spiritual, pragmatic and strategic approach to the ongoing conflict.

It sees its work of reconciliation between Palestinians and Jews as a viable model for realizing a joint community that respected each other and was committed to justice, political equality and peaceful coexistence.

That evening, however, we stayed in the Deheisheh refugee camp, a camp located near Bethlehem that was established after the expulsion of the more than 750,000 Palestinians in the war of 1948 that resulted in the creation of the state of Israel.

Our hosts at Deheisheh were clear that for them, peaceful coexistence was impossible in a settler-colonial context that did not allow them to recoup all of the land that they argue was stolen by the Israeli state.

A week after returning from the super-charged, repressive environment that is Israel/Palestine, it is not surprising that Jerusalem is now being consumed by an intensification of violence.

From what I observed, the allegations that Israeli settlers lynched Yousuf al-Ramouni, a Palestinian bus driver in Jerusalem that then sparked the retaliatory killing of four Israeli’s, is not surprising nor beyond the realm of possibility.

Settler and state violence are central components of the colonial project.

And violence as part of Israel’s colonial project has always been strategically deployed.

It is used as a means of social control but by manipulating issues to evoke Palestinian resistance it is used to support Israel’s narrative as victim.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon adroitly used this device to provide the pretext for destroying the last vestiges of the Oslo process and the functionality of the Palestinian Authority.

In the aftermath of the disastrous assault on Gaza that resulted in a public relations defeat for Israel and has even led to some European governments to recognize a Palestinian state, it appears that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has gone back to the Sharon playbook.

The closure of the A-Aqsa Mosque a few weeks ago had the predictable results of Palestinian Muslim resistance that Israel is attempting to use to its advantage.

The consciously provoked violence in Jerusalem also has another effect. It diverts attention away from political and material basis of the “conflict” – Israel’s brutal occupation and illegal theft of Palestinian land.

As one activist framed the political conundrum: “if a two state solution in which Palestinians were offered the 28% land mass of historic Palestine with borders between this state and Israel that approximated the 67 green line and a just solution to Palestinian refugees as part of the Oslo process in the 90s, it would have been hard to accept but it might have been viable.”

But for this activist and many others in Palestine, it is now clear that the Israeli state never intended to seriously consider establishing a viable Palestinian state or resolving the issue of Palestinian refugees in a just manner.

Difficult as it was, traveling to Palestine and seeing first hand the realities on the ground was a political necessity and an eye opener.

One can read about the repression, the growing expressions of racism, and see images from time to time of Israeli brutality, but nothing really prepares you for being thrust into that oppressive reality.

And for those of us who reside in oppressive communities where our lives and dignity are also under constant attack, we can feel the humiliation and degradation experienced by Palestinians which after a few days becomes emotionally overwhelming.

During my activist life I have traveled to many of the counties that Western colonial/capitalist leaders characterized as despotic totalitarian states – the old Soviet Union, North Korea, Cuba before 1989 – but in none of those states did I witness the systematic mechanism of population control and scientific repression that I witness in “democratic” Israel.

The security walls, towers, checkpoints, and armed settlers created an aura of insecurity and impending assault on one’s dignity at any time.

I left that space wondering how anyone with a modicum of humanity and any sense of morality could reconcile living in that environment from the spoils of Palestinian dispossession and degradation and how any nation could support the Israeli political project.

Ajamu Baraka is a long-time human rights activist and veteran of the Black Liberation, anti-war, anti-apartheid and Central American solidarity Movements in the United States.

Monday, November 17, 2014

H.Res.707 - Condemning all forms of anti-Semitism and rejecting
attempts to justify anti-Jewish hatred or violent attacks as an
acceptable expression of disapproval or frustration over political
events in the Middle East or elsewhere.

Whereas there is clear evidence of increasing incidents
and expressions of anti-Semitism throughout the world;

Whereas on April 30, 2014, the United States Department of State
released the International Religious Freedom Report for 2013 and
noted that,

``Throughout Europe, the historical stain of anti-Semitism
continued to be a fact of life on Internet fora, in soccer stadiums,
and through Nazi-like salutes, leading many individuals who are
Jewish to conceal their religious identity.'';

Whereas anti-Semitic acts committed and recorded in 2014 around
the world, including countries in the Middle East, Latin America,
Europe, and North America, include incidents of murder at Jewish
sites, violent attacks and death threats against Jews, as well as gun
violence, arson, graffiti, anti-Semitic cartoons, and other property
desecration at Jewish cemeteries, places of worship, and communal
activity;

Whereas a survey by the Anti-Defamation League of attitudes
towards Jews in more than 100 countries around the world,
released in May 2014 found that over a quarter of the people
surveyed (26 percent), and nearly three quarters of those surveyed
in the Middle East (74 percent) hold anti-Semitic views, a stunning
indicator of the stubborn resilience of anti-Semitic beliefs, even in
countries where few Jews reside;

Whereas the Anti-Defamation League survey also found that
a majority of people surveyed overall have either not heard
of the Holocaust or do not believe it happened as has been
documented by factual accounts and recorded by history;

Whereas President Barack Obama said in his remarks at the USC
Shoah Foundation Dinner on May 7, 2014, ``. . . if the memories
of the Shoah survivors teach us anything, it is that silence is evil's
greatest co-conspirator. And it's up to us--each of us, every one
of us--to forcefully condemn any denial of the Holocaust. It's up
to us to combat not only anti-Semitism, but racism and bigotry and
intolerance in all their forms, here and around the world. It's up
to us to speak out against rhetoric that threatens the existence of a
Jewish homeland and to sustain America's unshakeable commitment
to Israel's security'';

Whereas in 2004, Congress passed the Global Anti-Semitism Review
Act, which established an Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-
Semitism, headed by a Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-
Semitism;

Whereas the United States Government has consistently supported
efforts to address the rise in anti-Semitism through its bilateral
relationships and through engagement in international organizations
such as the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Organization of American
States (OAS);

Whereas in recent decades there has been a clear and troubling
pattern of increased violence against Jewish persons and their
property, purportedly in connection with increased opposition
to policies enacted by the Government of Israel;

Whereas during Israel's 2014 Operation Protective Edge aiming to
stem the rocket fire and terrorist infiltrations by Hamas, Jews
and Jewish institutions and property were attacked in Europe and
elsewhere, including attempts to invade a synagogue in Paris, fire-
bombings of synagogues in France and Germany, assaults on Jewish
individuals, and swastikas spray-painted in a heavily Jewish area of
London and also in Rome's historic Jewish quarter;

Whereas anti-Semitic imagery and comparisons of Jews and Israel to
Nazis have been on display at demonstrations against Israel's actions
in Gaza throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and
Latin America, including--

(1) placards comparing Israeli leaders to Nazis, accusing Israel of
carrying out a ``Holocaust'' against Palestinians, and equating the
Jewish Star of David with the Nazi swastika, and

(2) demonstrations that have included chants of ``Death to Jews'',
``Death to Israel'', or expressions of support for suicide terrorism
against Israeli or Jewish civilians;

Whereas the Governments in France, Germany, and Italy, the three
countries where the majority of incidents have occurred, have
strongly condemned anti-Semitism as unacceptable in European
society and have all made clear statements that such attacks on
their Jewish communities are intolerable, and they have matched
those words with strong law enforcement;

Whereas some civil society leaders have set strong examples,
including the condemnation by the Union of Mosques of France,
on behalf of their 500 mosques, called the attacks ``morally unjust
and unacceptable'', and stated, ``nothing can justify any act that
could harm our Jewish compatriots, their institutions or their places
of worship'';

Whereas the largest newspaper in circulation in Germany, Bild,
featured statements against anti-Semitism from politicians,
business leaders, civic leaders, media personalities and celebrities
with ``Never Again Jew Hatred'' on the front page; and

Whereas Congress has played an essential role in illustrating and
counteracting the resurgence of anti-Semitism worldwide: Now,
therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) unequivocally condemns all forms of anti-Semitism and rejects
attempts to justify anti-Jewish hatred or violent attacks as an
acceptable expression of disapproval or frustration over political
events in the Middle East or elsewhere;

(2) decries and condemns the comparison of Israel to Nazis as an
insult to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and an
affront to those who survived and their children and grandchildren,
the righteous gentiles who saved Jewish lives at peril to their own
lives and to those who bravely fought to defeat the Nazis;

(3) applauds those foreign leaders who have condemned anti-
Semitic acts and calls on those who have yet to take firm action
against anti-Semitism in their countries, to do so;

(4) reaffirms its support for the mandate of the United States
Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism as part of the
broader policy priority of fostering international religious freedom;

(5) supports expanded Holocaust educational programs that
increase awareness, counter prejudice, and enhance efforts
to teach the universal lessons of the Holocaust; and

(6) urges the Secretary of State to--

(A) maintain combating anti-Semitism as a United States foreign
policy priority;

(B) ensure that the instruments of United States public diplomacy,
including the United States Representative to the

Organization of Islamic Conference, are utilized to effectively
combat anti-Semitism;

(C) ensure high-level United States participation in the 2014
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) high
level event marking the 10th anniversary of the 2004 OSCE Berlin
Declaration against anti-Semitism;

(D) urge governments to ensure that adequate laws are in place
to punish anti-Semitic violence against persons and property;

(E) continue robust United States reporting on anti-Semitism by the
Department of State and the Special Envoy to Combat and Monitor
Anti-Semitism;

(F) provide necessary training and instruction for personnel posted
in United States embassies and missions to analyze and report on
anti-Semitic violence against persons and property as well as the
response of governments to those incidents;

(G) ensure that United States Government efforts to train law
enforcement personnel and prosecutors abroad incorporate tools
to address anti-Semitic violence against persons and property; and

(H) strongly support the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe's specialized efforts to monitor and address anti-
Semitism, including through support for its law enforcement and
civil society training programs.

Just as most Americans are afraid of the Ghetto, they also
shy away from the brutal reality of America's wars abroad.

Both struggles seem too distant, too strange for the average
American to comprehend.

In some ways, it's true: Americans who do not live in the Ghetto
have no idea what Ghetto entails; and people who have not
experienced war cannot comprehend what it's like to be in war.

Throughout the course of my second deployment, I became
increasingly opposed to the war.

This happened for many reasons, but primarily because of the
insane brutality inflicted on the Iraqi people by my fellow Marines.

They took it upon themselves to shoot at innocents, torture
civilians and enemy combatants, steal goods from the local
populations, mutilate dead bodies, take pictures with corpses
and cover-up any evidence of said actions.

According to MSNBC, CNN and FoxNews, we were the good guys.

Hell, many veterans didn't even believe such nonsense.

But most Americans did.

They bought the hype.

And the so-called anti-war movement wasn't much better.

Their critique of the war in Iraq wasn't principled, nor was
it serious.

If they were serious, they wouldn't have disappeared once
Obama took office.

In hindsight, the movement was more of an anti-Bush/Cheney/GOP
struggle than it was an anti-war social movement, committed to
identifying and confronting militarism throughout American society.

In any case, by the time I returned home from my second tour,
it was more than obvious how different my life was going to be.

First of all, I was badly addicted to drugs, alcohol and violence.

Yes, violence.

There is an addictive quality to extreme forms of subjective violence.

The act of killing someone is not simply traumatic and brutal,
it's also invigorating and powerful.

The drugs and alcohol only staved away my violent urges.

If someone didn't say "thank you" at the supermarket, I thought
about the various ways in which I could torture them.

When someone at the local gas station wouldn't hold the door
open for the next patron, I fantasized about killing them.

Their lack of discipline and manners made me physically ill.

Sometimes, when I drove around town, I'd find myself dreaming
about a confrontation with someone, anyone.

I wanted to show them what war was all about.

I wanted to release my anger through violence, often imagining
the most gruesome scenarios.

Really, I wanted them to feel the same anxiety and anger that
I felt during those days.

My thinking was shallow: Why should they go through life
unscathed by war?

Of course, all of this had a tremendously negative impact
on my life.

I've lost friends, intimate partners and family members due
to my personal battles with PTSD.

Indeed, I still struggle with these ailments.

The nightmares stalk my nightly sleep.

Violent urges shadow my daily activities.

Each day is a struggle.

The more I try and put the war behind me, the more the dog
of war bites at my heels as I run away from the grief.

One day, my mother asked me to stop smoking in her and my
father's garage.

I picked up a garbage can, threw it at the wall and threatened
to kill her.

Two hours later I was sobbing, head in hands, trying to explain
to my friend what happened.

He didn't know what to say.

How could he?

Activism As Therapy

I first became involved with the anti-war movement in 2006.

The first event I attended was at Valparaiso University.

It was a roundtable discussion, with three panelists in favor
of the war in Iraq, and three against the occupation.

After each participant spoke, they opened the event to a
question and answer segment.

Listening to people talk about the war made me uncomfortable,
even the folks promoting an anti-war message.

How could they know?

How did they know?

Finally, I stood up and said, "I'm a combat veteran who was
deployed to Iraq on two separate occasions and I agree with
the three panelists who are against the war."

Heads began to turn.

People started to whisper.

Some in the crowd started to clap their hands.

Even the panelists seemed dumbfounded.

Three years into the war and it was still out of the ordinary for
people on a college campus to hear the opinion of an anti-war
veteran.

Amazing, indeed.

After the event, a Vietnam veteran came up to me and
introduced himself as "Nick."

He continued, "I'm so glad to meet you!

Do you realize how important your testimony is going to
be to the movement?

There's a couple of veterans I'd like you to meet so come
out to our next event."

Nick handed me a flier and we exchanged phone numbers.

I remember driving home and thinking about how significant
this minor event meant to me.

For once, I felt powerful again.

I knew that my story, my emotions, my life, mattered.

For so many years I had viewed my life as worthless,
easily discardable.

Suicide was always an option.

Homicide was always a fantasy.

Now, I had a new commitment: the anti-war movement.

I wanted to turn the tide, roll back the negativity and
participate in something positive.

Eventually, I linked up with Iraq Veterans Against the War.

To me, this was a new beginning.

So far, my anti-war feelings had been relegated to poems,
music and art.

Now I was contributing to an organization that aimed to stop wars,
stand in solidarity with the Iraqi and Afghan people, and assist
returning veterans with their healthcare and educational benefits.

I remember being outlandishly happy about the whole process.

I mean, here I am, a working-class kid who barely graduated high
school, talking with college-educated activists about ending the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was the first time I felt genuine happiness in a long, long time.

Plus, the activists were great.

Many of the veterans I started to work with had similar stories.

They too came from small towns and working-class backgrounds.

Unlike my time in the Marine Corps, I felt comfortable in the
anti-war community.

I cannot properly recall the amount of organizing workshops,
protests, writing workshops, fundraisers, speaking events and
street theatre actions we conducted during my first few years
with IVAW.

But it was a lot of work, both emotionally and physically.

Members came and went.

Some stuck around for several years. Others are still involved.

This work has kept many of us out of jail and alive.

For this, I will always be grateful to the anti-war community.

It would take weeks for me to name all of the veterans whose
lives are better off today due to the work of anti-war activists
and community organizers.

Where politicians and doctors failed, many of these folks
have succeeded.

Turns out, many of us simply needed a new mission, a mission
dedicated to peace and justice, not war and destruction.

Nonetheless, activism isn't enough, as time has illustrated.

Our activist friends are not immune to suicide.

In fact, I would venture to assume activists are more prone
to suicide than their non-activist counterparts.

It's difficult to commit one's self to the world of political activism.

Monday, November 10, 2014

For those who are not familiar, Bunraku is an old form of Japanese
puppet theater, its distinctive characteristic being that the
puppeteers are on the stage with their puppets, dressed in black so
that the audience can pretend not to see them.

While many old art forms have conventions that are unrealistic by
modern standards, there is something particularly unsatisfying
about bunraku: you can pretend not to see the puppeteers but you
cannot fail to see them.

Bunraku, as it happens, offers a remarkable metaphor for some
contemporary operations of American foreign policy.

So many times – in Syria, Ukraine, Libya, Venezuela, Egypt – we see
dimly the actors on stage, yet we are supposed to pretend they are
not there.

We can’t identify them with precision, but we know they are there.

Most oddly, the press in the United States, and to a lesser extent
that of its various allies and dependents, pretends to report what
is happening without ever mentioning the actors.

They report only the movements of the puppets.

One of the consequences of this kind of activity is that many
people, including many of your own, come simply not to believe
you, no matter what newspapers and government spokespersons
keep saying.

Another consequence is that because many knowledgeable people
no longer believe you, when it comes time to enlist the support of
other nations for your activities, you must use behind-the-scenes
pressure and threats, stretching the boundaries of alliance and
friendship.

After all, your major government friends and allies have
sophisticated intelligence services themselves and are
often aware of what you are trying to do.

Still another consequence is that many people start doubting
what you are saying concerning other topics.

In the United States, a fairly large segment of the population does
not believe the official version of a great deal of comparatively-
recent American history, including explanations of John Kennedy’s
assassination, of events around 9/11, of the downing of TWA Flight
800, of what Israel was doing when it attacked an American spy
ship in 1967, and of the CIA’s past heavy connections with cocaine
trafficking – just to name a few outstanding examples.

Government in America feels the need only to go so far in it's
efforts to explain such matters because the doubters and
skeptics, though many, are not a big enough segment of the
population to matter greatly in political terms, and it is
simply brutally true that the great passive mass of people are
never well informed about anything outside their own lives.

America is a place, as relatively few people abroad understand,
where people must work very hard.

It's industrial working class went through a great depression since,
say, 1960, many of them now holding low-paid service jobs.

It's middle-class workers have seen real incomes decline for
decades, something providing part of the incentive for both
parents in a family to work and for them to move into America’s
great suburban sprawl of lower land costs as well as to embrace
stores such as Wal-Mart with their bare-bones costs.

Many Americans work so hard, they have little time to be concerned
or informed about government, satisfying themselves that a few
minutes with corporate television news is adequate, a phenomenon
favoring the government’s interests since on any important and
controversial subject the television networks (and the major
newspapers) do the government’s bidding, mostly without being
asked.

American corporate news, especially in matters of foreign affairs,
resembles nothing so much as nightly coverage of a banraku
performance.

Selling stuff, whether it’s widgets or religion or political ideas, is
at the core of American life, and America’s one unquestionably
original creation in the modern world involves the disciplines of
marketing, advertising, and public relations – all highly artful
aspects of selling stuff.

The success of these methods has long been proved in American
commerce, but they are no less effective when applied to other
areas.

So, it should hardly surprise that the same “arts” are heavily
employed by, and on behalf of, government in propaganda
and opinion-manipulation around its acts and policies.

Indeed, we see America’s entire election system today having been
reduced to little more than a costly, massive application of these
crafty skills, and no department or agency of government is ever
without its professional, full-time spokespeople and creative back-
up staff, making sure that whatever words or numbers are spoken
or printed never slip beyond what those arts have conjured up.

Unacceptable photos, say those of women and children smashed
by bombs or missiles hurled into the Mideast, are made simply to
disappear much as they were in 1984.

Government knows, too, that the American political system is
heavily stacked against people with doubts ever gaining serious
influence.

Ninety-five percent of Senate elections go to incumbents, and
because only one-third of the Senate faces re-election at any
given election, a majority on some new matter is virtually
impossible to build.

The presidential candidates of the only two parties with a hope of
being elected are almost as carefully groomed and selected as the
party chairman of a former communist-bloc country, and generally
about as surprising in their views.

And always, time makes people forget, even with the most
terrible issues.

After a generation or two, there are relatively few people
who are even aware there was an issue.

In the case of the most overwhelming and terrifying event of
my life, the Vietnam War, polls show a huge number of young
Americans today don’t know what it was or when it occurred.

These are the key factors permitting an American government to
commission horrific acts abroad resembling those of the bloodiest
tyrant, all while it smilingly prances across the international stage
as democracy’s self-designated chief representative and advocate.

As for the great mass of people, the 95% of humanity living
outside the United States, no one in America’s government
ever gives them a moment’s thought, unless they step out
of line.

John Chuckman lives in Canada and is former chief economist for a large Canadian oil company.

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About Me

My name is Tony Whitcomb. I am a Social Entrepreneur, Founder and CEO of Expotera.
I created Expotera and this Blog, to teach Corporate America and our Government, a few basic lessons in Ethics, Honesty, Macro Economics and Social Justice.
Power To The People!!